1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an air conditioner outlet vent device, which is suitably used in an automobile or the like, and particularly to an improvement in an air conditioner outlet vent device comprising a housing having a blow-out hole at its front end; a plurality of fins which are supported in parallel in the blow-out hole and each of which is capable of pivoting about its axis, the axes being parallel to one another; a common link which extends in an arrangement direction of the fins and to which the fins are pivotably connected at their rear ends; a pair of outer fins disposed at opposite ends in the arrangement direction of the fins, the outer fins each integrally including a shield plate which protrudes toward one of a pair of sidewalls of the housing so as to define opposite ends of the blow-out hole.
2. Description of the Related Art
An air conditioner outlet vent device is already known, for example, from Japanese Utility Model Application Laid-open No.60-45115. In this device, shield plates for inhibiting the flowing of air between sidewalls of a housing and outer fins are integrally provided on the outer fins to protrude toward the sidewalls, in order to prevent a reduction in directivity of a blow-out direction due to an influence of an air flow in a straight direction between the sidewalls of the housing and the outer fins, when all the fins are pivoted in unison to change the air blow-out direction from the straight direction to the right or left direction.
In this conventional device, however, air flows between the outer fin and a fin adjacent to the outer fin, collides with the sidewall of the housing, and changes its course to flow along the sidewall, whereby the directivity of a blow-out direction may be disturbed. More specifically, when all the fins are pivoted to be fixed in a rightward blow-out direction, air flowing between the outer fin located at the right end and the fin second from the right end changes its flowing direction to flow along the right sidewall, and interferes with the flow of air turned rightwards. When all the fins are pivoted to be fixed in a leftward blow-out direction, air flowing between the outer fin located at the left end and the fin second from the left end changes its flowing direction to flow along the left sidewall, and interferes with the flow of air turned leftwards. Thus, the directivity of the blow-ff direction is disturbed.
The present invention has been achieved with the above circumstances in view, and it is an object of the present invention to provide an air conditioner outlet vent device, wherein the directivity of an air blow-out direction can be prevented from being detracted.
To achieve the above object, according to a first aspect and feature of the present invention, there is provided an air conditioner outlet vent device comprising a housing having a blow-out hole at its front end; a plurality of fins which are supported in parallel in the blow-out hole and each of which is capable of pivoting about its axis, the axes being parallel to one another; a common link which extends in an arrangement direction of the fins and to which the fins are pivotably connected at their rear ends; a pair of outer fins disposed at opposite ends in the arrangement direction of the fins, the outer fins each integrally including a shield plate which protrudes toward one of a pair of sidewalls of the housing so as to define opposite ends of the blow-out hole; wherein a distance between a support point of each of the outer fins in the housing and a linkage point of the outer fin to the link is set larger than a distance between a support point of each of the fins other than the outer fins and its linkage point to the link.
With this arrangement of the first feature, since the distance between the support point of each of the outer fins in the housing and the linkage point of the outer fin to the link is set larger than the distance between the support point of each of the fins other than the outer fins and its linkage point to the link, when all the fins are pivoted in unison, the pivoting angle of the outermost fin is suppressed to be smaller than the pivoting angle of the other fins. Also, since the distance between the outermost fin in the pivoting direction of the fins and the fin adjacent to the outermost fin is reduced, the amount of air colliding with the sidewall is suppressed to be small. In addition, since the shield plates are integrally provided on the outer fins to protrude toward the sidewalls of the housing, the amount of air flowing in a straight direction along the sidewalls is suppressed effectively, whereby the directivity of the air blow-out direction can be prevented effectively from being detracted.
According to a second feature of the present invention, in addition to the arrangement of the first feature, the outer fin comprises a rear fin portion which extends in parallel to the fins other than the outer fins when in an orientation to guide air in a straight direction from the blow-out hole and which is connected to the link, and a front fin portion which is inclined toward the fin adjacent to the outer fin and which is connected at an angle to a front end of the rear fin portion. With this arrangement, the distance between the outermost fin in the pivoting direction of the fins and the fin adjacent to the outermost fin is further reduced and hence, the amount of air colliding with the sidewall can be suppressed effectively to be small.
Further, according to a third feature of the present invention, in addition to the arrangement of the first or second feature, the outer fins are connected to the link while being capable of moving in a limited range in a direction along the arrangement direction of the fins and in a longitudinal direction of the housing. With this arrangement, even if the pivoting radius of the outermost fins and the pivoting radius of the other fins are different from each other due to the difference in distance between the support point and the linkage point, it is possible to prevent an excessive load acting on the link, and to provide the smooth movement of the link along the direction of arrangement of the fins.